Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1887-12-10
The Esible.

The Bible.
A geaeraion is growing up-indeed, in
many cases is already grown-to whom the
Bible, il not an unknown, is q grievous!y
neglected book; and there are many young
men and women, and not few older men
and women, among the so called educated
/ classes" who have never read the Bible,
| and whose knowledge Of it is obtained main
/ ~, if uot altogether, from hearsay. They
may, if the children of religious parents,
have learned something about it in Sunday
school and from sermons, but that is all !;
/ they have not read enough of it to have any
| clear idea Of its contents, much less to ap
! preciate them at their true value, or even to
! fully understand allusiops to them. II this
rather startling statement is doubted let the
| doubter test il by asking two or three Bibli-
| cal questions in the next miscellaneous com.
pany he meets, be the members old or young
and see the answers he gets Unless more
fortunate than some others who have tried
the same experiment, be will be-to put it
mildly-astonished. That the Bible is read
more than any other book may be freely ad.
mitted but the point we urge is-and facts
| will sustain us--thet it is not read as gener-
ally as it ought to be, not nearly as much IS
| is commonly supposed /; and that there are
! hundreds, if not thousands, in every large
/ community, of what are considered intelli
| gent persons, 10 whom--for all the personal
! aCquainta they have with them by read
ing--the Old aud New Testaments might
I iust Us sell have remained in their original
i Hebrew emo Greek Let Us suppose that
! instead If heing known to the world for
! thousands of years, il had been-though 8s
old az il is believed to he-recently dis
covered; found. as Tischendorf found
! the manuscript OF tae famous Sinaitic Codex
| in The convent OF st. Catbarine, on Mt. Sinai,
! in 1914 and 1859 Let US suppose that dur
| ing the process cf translation and pubics-
| tion extracts from the more important por-
tions had been given to the public through
! lhe daily press OK in pamphlet With what
( eagerness would all Europe and America
wait the appearance of the completed book
and when II appeared, what man or woman,
Young or old, with mind above the ciods,
would not read it, or have it read to them.
| IF the Bible had nothing TO recommend it
! hut reDutation-leaving its Divine author
| ship out of the question aitogether-even
then not TO read it would he nothing less
| than crime agaest the intellectual and
moral nature. Here is what has been said
Dy one who did not believe in its inspiration.
or only in thet kind Of inspiration which is
given, iu various degree, 10 all great and
good men who strive 10 lead their fellow
men through darkness up to the light that's
in God
"This collection of books has taken such
a hold upon the world as no other. TIE
/ literature of Greece which goes up like in
csnse from that land OF temples and heroic
deeds has not half the influence of this
book from nation alike despisedin ancient
and modern times It is read of Sunday
in all the thirty thousand pulpits in our
land In all the temples of Christendom is
it's voice lifted up week by week. The son
never sets upon lis cleaning page. It goes
equally to the cottage of the plain man and
the palace of the king. 1t is woven into the
literature of the scholar, and colors the talk
of the street. The bark of the merchant can
not sail the sea without it; no ship OF war goes
10 the conflict without the Bible Is there.
1t enters mems closets; mipgles in all the
grief and cheerfulness of life. The alfianced
maiden prays God in Scripture for strength
in her new duties; uen are married by
Scripture. The Bible attends them in their
sickness: when the fever of the world is on
hem the aching head finds softer pillow
if such leaves lie underneath. The mariner,
OF his treasures, and keeps it sacred to God.
1t goes with the peddler in his crowded
pack cheers him st eventide, when he sits
down dusty and fatigued; brightens the
freshness of his morning face. 1t blesses us
when we are born gives names to halt
Chr;stendom; rejoices with US; has sympathy
for our mourning; tempers our grief to finer
issues. 1t is the better part of our sermons.
1t lifts man above himself; our best of ut
tered prayers are in its storied speech,
wherewith our fathers and the patrinrchs
PRAYED. Tho timid man. about awaking
from his dream CT life, looks through the
glass of Scripture and his eye grows bright;
be does not fear to stand alone, to tread the
way unknown and distant. to take the
death angel by the hand and bid farewell
to wife and babies and home. Men rest on
this their dearest hopes. 1t tells them of
God and of His blessed Sor of earthly du-
ties and Of heavenly reat. Foolish men find
it the source of Plato's wisdom, and the
science of Newton, and the art of Raphael.
Men who believe nothing else that is spirit
ual, believe the Bible all through; without
this they would not confess. say they, even
that there was q God"
Not to have read the Bible is not to have
read the book of all the books in the world
best worth reading. To read it as it de
serves to be read-even concediDg its hu
man oriein-is liberal education. No one
can ho uuleayned who has learned what this
book has to teach. Read the Bible, then !;
If you cannot read it as "tbe Word of God,"
read it for what it surely is-the highest and
nobest wcrd of man. In il human nature
rises nearest Divine nature; 10 it mortality
comes nearest the Divine nature; in it uor-
1. 1T,